1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data acquisition and processing systems for retail merchandisers. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems for fully automating a broad spectrum of front end (i.e., cashier checkstand) point-of-sale (POS) functions in retail merchandise outlets, such as grocery stores.
2. State of the Art
Retail merchandise outlets such as grocery stores possess unique characteristics which are reflected in their business trends. For example, these outlets constitute high volume markets having relatively low profit margins (e.g., net profits typically are in the range of 1% of sales). Accordingly, retail merchandising is a highly competitive market wherein special advertising and other promotional techniques are employed. One of the most popular promotional techniques used by these outlets and their product suppliers (i.e., product manufacturers) is the distribution of product vouchers (e.g., discount or rebate coupons and food stamps). Presently, voucher redemption and collection is handled very inefficiently because current technological advancements have not been effectively used for voucher processing and handling.
Due to their low profit margin, another characteristic of retail outlets is their provision of enhanced customer service to attract additional business. The sentiment to provide enhanced customer service in retail outlets is shared by other industries who recognize the marketing advantage which these high volume outlets afford.
For example, retail outlets (particularly retail grocery outlets) are on the average visited bi-weekly by at least one member from every household. If a third party, such as a lottery ticket distributer can conveniently market their product (e.g., lottery tickets) in a supermarket, the lottery ticket distributer is practically assured of increased sales and profits. Retail outlets can directly benefit by charging an overhead fee to the lottery ticket distributer. The retail outlet also benefits indirectly. A larger customer base is more likely to be established at a retail outlet which can provide errand saving features such as lottery ticket purchasing.
Despite the desire which may exist to enhance the efficiency with which vouchers are currently processed or to provide additional convenient in-store promotional opportunities such as a lottery ticket purchases, the aforementioned characteristics of retail outlets have limited technological advancements in these areas. In addition, other errand saving features such as foreign currency exchange and electronic funds transfer have not been introduced to checkstands of retail outlets.
There are many reasons why the inefficiencies and limited functionally of a retail outlet checkstand have not been enhanced. Of course the aforementioned low profit margins and the desire to expeditiously service a large number of customers has limited the functionality retail owners are willing to provide at retail outlet checkstands. However, a significant concern of retail outlets which severely limits the introduction of enhanced checkstand functionality is their fear that any increased functionality will increase the probability of checkstand downtime. Currently, faults in one point-of-sale (POS) terminal (i.e., cash register) can affect the networked of POS terminals of some or all checkstand lanes. Retail owners can thus not afford to introduce additional checkstand complexities which will enhance the probability of such downtime.
Retail owners are also concerned that enhanced checkstand functionally can not be implemented without increasing the significant checkstand delays which already exist. At best, present lottery ticket vending is performed with large, stand alone devices that are inconveniently located. The nature of the lottery ticket transaction is such that it is very time consuming for the clerk to perform the double function of vending the ticket and key entering the sale of the ticket into the cash register. In addition, on-line lottery games are not vended in the checkstands of major retailers because of their space requirements. The combination of a mark sense reader, ticket printer, and data communications equipment requires a large footprint which most high volume retail stores are unwilling to provide.
Other delays also already exist at checkstands. For example, 15,000 customers typically pass through a single retail supermarket each week. The principal form of payment used by these customers is the personal check and check cashing is, for the most, considered a necessary checkstand function. Check writing coupled with a minimum check verification, results in significant checkstand delays.
Voucher redemption represents another time consuming and costly function typically considered a necessary checkstand function. Due to the aforementioned limitations of retail outlets, food stamp fraud and misuse is a problem which has practically been left untreated by retail outlets. Further, coupon misredemption rates have resulted in significant financial loss to retail outlets and/or product manufacturers.
The limited functionally associated with present checkstands imposes substantial costs on the retail outlets, the product manufactures and thus, the consumers. For example, voucher redemption imposes significant handling costs on the retail outlet and the product manufacturer (e.g., coupon issuer). Presently, voucher redemption begins at a checkstand where entry of coupon or food stamp information is typically performed manually by a cashier. At best, vouchers are handled using a bar code reader to enter a portion of the information encoded on the coupon face (e.g., bar encoded value of a coupon). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,446, entitled "Supermarket Inventory Control System And Method" describes a conventional coupon scanning system.
Typically, the store clerk (i.e., cashier) totals a customer's bill and then credits coupon and/or food stamp values to the bill. Some stores offer coupon doubling features in a further effort to attract customers and this information is manually keyed in by the cashier.
In some outlets, a coupon verification is required to ensure that coupons are only credited when all coupon conditions (e.g., product purchase, expiration date, and so forth) have been satisfied. However, where the coupon is conditioned on the purchase of a specified product, it is time consuming to check each item to ensure that the customer complied with conditional requirements. Failure to verify that all conditional requirements have been satisfied can result in significant financial loss to the manufacturer. For example, retail outlets can request reimbursement of manufacturers' coupons for products that have never been purchased, billing the manufacturer for the coupon's face value plus a handling charge.
Periodically store personnel accumulate all coupons and/or food stamps received at the checkstand. These coupons and food stamps are then bundled and physically shipped to a third party clearinghouse (i.e., retail outlet) for sorting, counting and processing. The clearinghouse returns the coupons to the product manufacturer and issues debits and credits to the manufacturer and retailer. Because industry estimates reflect an average 7.5 to 8 billion coupons are redeemed each year, significant costs are associated with the shipping and handling of coupons throughout the distribution-redemption and clearing cycle.
Although it would be desirable to eliminate physically returning this large volume of coupons to the manufacturer, characteristics of the retail market make this impractical. For example, manufacturers do not necessarily trust retail outlets integrity in only redeeming valid, properly used coupons. Further, additional information is often encoded on coupons which is only of interest to the manufacturer. This additional information often relates to the particular medium used to distribute the coupon (e.g., newspaper, mass-media, direct mail, on-package coupon) or other demographic information and is used by the manufacturer to assess marketing effectiveness. The low profit margin of retail stores makes it impractical to identify and compile this demographic information for the manufacturer. Thus, the physical return of coupons to the manufacturer is accepted as a cost of doing business.
Competitive retail outlets are almost forced to provide check cashing and voucher redemption functions. However, for reasons mentioned above, little has been done to effectively address the inefficiencies in handling these functions at a checkstand. Rather, the provision of limited checkstand functions has resulted in significant financial losses to both the retailers and the manufacturers.
For example, presently known systems do not address check and food stamp processing in retail outlets. These systems fail to provide efficient verification of check, food stamp or other selected benefit entitlement programs (e.g., WIC government program for women with infants). Known systems fail to verify that the consumer is entitled to use food stamps, that the food stamps actually belong to that consumer and that the proper category of goods are being purchased. Further, only limited efforts have been made to simplify coupon processing by retail outlets and manufacturers. These efforts have, for the most part, merely resulted in high cost systems which are not universally applicable to all retail outlets and which cannot be readily upgraded.
For example, in-store coupon distribution systems employing mechanical devices have been developed using a plastic card (e.g., credit or debit card) with a magnetic strip or universal product code (UPC) to initiate the coupon selection process. With these systems, selected coupons can be physically issued to the customer in-store and redeemed by the customer at the checkstand.
One such automated coupon issuing system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,882,675, entitled "Paperless System For Distributing, Redeeming And Clearing Merchandise Coupons". This patent discloses a system for storing coupon information electronically on a special card and is hereby incorporated by reference. Another automated system for dispensing in-store coupons is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,723,212 entitled "Method And Apparatus For Dispensing Discount Coupons" wherein a record of items purchased is examined and used to trigger generation of a specific product coupon in the store. U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,519, entitled "Foolproof Coupon Redemption System" also describes a manufacturers' coupon redemption system that credits the value of a coupon to a sale, and then physically alters the coupon by mutilation to prevent re-use of the coupon. Despite their limited use of relatively current technological advancements, these systems typically address niche markets which limit the coupon marketing strategies of the manufacturers.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide cost-effective, enhanced point-of-sale functionality in retail outlets. The enhanced functionality must be implemented in a manner which will not increase the potential for checkstand downtime. Further, it would be desirable to efficiently implement enhanced checkstand functions which would avoid financial losses typically incurred by retail outlets and manufacturers. In so doing, it would be desirable to enhance the speed with which checkstand functions are currently handled so that customer volume can be increased with improved integrity. Assuming that these seemingly contradictory features (i.e., increased speed versus enhanced transaction integrity without increased downtime) can be resolved, it would be desirable to provide additional functionality at the checkstand in an effort to attract consumers and derive additional revenue (e.g., from lottery ticket distribution).